Understanding Human Dignity

Throughout his Adventures of Ideas, Whitehead defines the history of civilization as the progressive formation of the idea of human dignity, just like a “tiny glow announcing the dawn of a new life order”1. According to Patočka, the role of what he calls the “moderate supercivilization” consists in the creation of goods that can be universalized to all human beings. He insists particularly on two core values: scientific truth and human liberty. Both configure the “recognition of man by man as equal”2. Even if he does not talk explicitly about human dignity, Patočka refers to this notion as the central value of western civilization. Also, and from an historical perspective, Béjar thinks that the “greatest revolution of modernity is the affirmation of the individual as the deciding and unquestionable center of the collective organization”3. With these three preliminary references, it might be possible to think about the idea of human dignity. On one hand, this notion would be the mirror of a moral progress: social and political organizations would find their “raison d’être” in the respect of the value of human being. On the other hand, human dignity would match with a specific historical period (Modernity) and a particular civilization (the Western world).Programa Consolider "El tiempo de los derechos" (HURI-AGE

Laicity (secularism) and its enemies

La laicidad representa un principio importante para la consolidación de un Estado de derecho y la ilustración de la ciudadanía. No obstante, a pesar y debido a su importancia, sufre constante ataques por parte de distintas fuerzas sociales y políticas. En este artículo, el autor identifica cuatro enemigos de la laicidad: el clericalismo, los fundamentalismos religiosos, el comunitarismo y el laicismo. El objetivo consiste no sólo en denunciar esos enemigos sino también en proporcionar argumentos contra sus ataques al principio de laicidad.Laicity (or secularism) embodies an important principle for the rule of law and the enlightenment of the citizenship. Nonetheless, and because of this relevance, different social and political forces constantly criticize it. In this article, the author identifies four enemies: clericalism, religious fundamentalisms, communitarianism, and laicism. The aim is not only to denounce those enemies but also to provide some arguments against their attacks to the principle of laicity.Este trabajo forma parte del proyecto “Professor Visitante do Exterior” (PVE) de la CAPES, en colaboración con la PUC-Rio (Pós-graduação em Direito / Núcleo de Direitos Humanos). Integra también el proyecto de investigación “Secularización, Laicidad y Libertad de Conciencia” -CSO2011-14850-E. El autor quiere agradecer el apoyo de la Fundación Gregorio Peces-Barba para el Estudio & Cooperación en Derechos Humanos

Una aproximación al concepto de dignidad humana

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Models of the dignity of human being throughout the Middle Ages

En este trabajo, se pretende demostrar la existencia de un discurso sobre la dignidad del ser humano a lo largo de toda la Edad Media. Este discurso será más desarrollado en el Renacimiento con, en particular, los tratados sobre la “dignitas hominis”. Sin embargo, a partir del medioevo y ya en la Alta Edad Media, empiezan a configurarse unos planteamientos que permiten hablar de distintos modelos de la dignidad del ser humano. Se puede así defender la existencia de un humanismo medieval que, basándose en una nueva interpretación de las fuentes bíblicas y en otras fuentes de la filosofía clásica, argumenta a favor de una dignidad inherente al ser humano. Esta defensa de la dignidad del hombre tiene como principal motivo, complementar y también criticar otras posturas que sostienen la miseria del ser humano.This article aims to show the existence of a discourse on the dignity of human being throughout the Middle Ages. This discourse will be more developed during the Renaissance, with in particular the treaties upon the “dignitas hominis”. However, from the Middle and even in the High Middle Ages, began to take shape different approaches that create various models of the dignity of human being. Thus, a medieval humanism based on a new interpretation of the biblical sources and other sources of the classical philosophy, defends an inherent dignity of all human beings. This defense of the dignity of man aims to supplement and criticize other positions that claim the misery of human beings.Publicad

KANT ON HUMAN DIGNITY: A CRITICAL APPROACH -- KANT E A DIGNIDADE HUMANA: UMA INTERPRETAÇÃO CRÍTICA

In this article, I intend to reframe and qualify Kant’s moral philosophy for the understanding human dignity. Some Kant’s formulas seem to grant to the human being an inherent and absolute worthiness, when they are read (often) in a very decontextualized way. To achieve this objective, I identify the basic characteristics we commonly attribute to the contemporary model of human dignity. This model has some expressions in the axiological field (inherent and absolute worth), and, at the same time, in the legal-political field (cornerstone of human rights and guiding principle of the Rule of law). I intend to see if we can find some of these latter characteristics in the mentioned usages that Kant gives to the term “dignity” and of formulas supposedly connected (“end in itself”, “autonomy”, “humanity”). When contextualizing these expressions, either in the motivations or in the results of Kant’s philosophy, I arrived to the conclusion that Kant was less concerned with the intrinsic worthiness of the human beings, than with establishing the authority of morality.Keywords: Categorical imperative. Human dignity. Humanity. Kant. Rights.

Medicine, Dissent and the “Chloroquinization” of Truth:Brazil and Pandemic

This article explores the management of the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil radicalizing Foucault’s notion of governmentality. While dominant scholarship has been interpreting the human tragedy of the outbreak in Brazil in terms of necropolitics and Bolsonaro’s populist rhetoric, the present work highlights other dimensions. It shows that the management of the pandemic was deployed to govern the conduct of the Brazilian population. This article detects novel economies of medical truth, obedience, and salvation. It also examines the struggles and (bio)political resistance of Brazil’s vulnerable communities. While academic debates interpreted those movements in terms of care and compassion, this article highlights their radical political aspects. Extending Foucault’s notion of “counter-conducts,” this article reveals how those collectives shaped new forms of medical dissent. More concretely, they brought forward political practices of hope, solidarity, and resilience.</p

Le pouvoir à l’ère digitale : la « société de l’exposition », réflexion autour de Exposed de Bernard E. Harcourt

[extract] Cet  article se penche sur les nouvelles relations de pouvoir qui sont en train de prendre forme dans notre ère digitale. Il se base essentiellement sur un commentaire de l’ouvrage de Bernard E. Harcourt : Exposed. Desire and Disobedience in the Digital Age. Notre objectif général cherche à démontrer que les sciences juridiques et politiques ont besoin d’adopter des instruments « critiques » contemporains si elles ne veulent tout simplement pas être absorbées par des intérêts politiques et économiques dont elles feindraient de connaître l’existence et l’étendue. Les ouvrages précédents de B. Harcourt portaient essentiellement sur les régimes contemporains de pénalités et il y disséquait les illusions qui permettaient à ces derniers de fonctionner : l’idée d’un ordre économique spontané, les méthodes actuarielles ou encore, le principe de tolérance zéro. Exposed s’intéresse à un registre différent dans la mesure où son objet d’analyse est notre ère numérique. Il existe cependant une certaine continuité, non seulement, comme nous le verrons, parce que l’auteur détecte de nouvelles logiques nourrissant mutuellement les sphères pénales et digitales, mais aussi et surtout, parce que l’auteur continue à déployer une méthodologie et une théorie critique visant à mieux saisir de nouvelles formes de pouvoir. Il faut donc comprendre Exposed comme un questionnement et un redéploiement créatif des outils d’une théorie critique contemporaine souhaitant détecter et résister à la circulation d’un nouveau type de pouvoir, qui va au-delà (voir en deçà) de la question de l’open government

Humour et subjectivités: retour critique sur le film Intouchables

O artigo procura entender algumas das bases socioculturais que presidem a construção das relações entre os dois personagens principais do filme Os Intocáveis. Essa ficção nos permitirá identificar os códigos implícitos que definem certas subjetividades da sociedade francesa atual. Ao estudar o cruzamento da esfera pública com a privada, e inversamente, podemos ver como são construídos processos de assimialção e de reprodução de uma cultura específica. Assim, nosso objetivo consiste em mostrar como a análise dessas intersecções ocultas pode revelar algumas potencialidades críticas e políticas.This work aims to understand certain socio-cultural elements through which the relationships between the two main characters of the French movie The intouchables are built. This fiction enables us to detect certain implicit codes that shape specific subjectivities in the French society. Focusing on how a public sphere intersects with a private one and – vice versa – we will see how some processes of assimilation and reproduction of a specific culture are built. At the same time, we aim to demonstrate that this analysis of those hidden intersections might be able to convey some critical and political potentialities

Filosofía e historia en el fundamento de la dignidad humana

Se contempla hoy la dignidad humana como el fundamento de los derechos humanos. El ser humano tendría en efecto un valor intrínseco y absoluto que le conferiría esta titularidad de derechos y libertades en el seno de un Estado de Derecho. La dignidad humana implica más precisamente dos rasgos: la autonomía individual y la igual dignidad de las personas, que serían la expresión de este mismo valor. La presente investigación pretende destacar algunos elementos que, en la historia y dentro del campo de la filosofía, han podido conformar o establecer premisas a este fundamento de la dignidad humana. Partiendo de la Antigüedad hasta la Ilustración, se ha analizado el pensamiento de algunos pensadores representativos para comprender cómo y porqué ha podido surgir este reconocimiento de un valor intrínseco al ser humano. Se trató de un reconocimiento que no fue constante sino que se inscribió en una historia humana sinónima de afrontamientos y luchas. Por otro lado, y por el periodo histórico estudiado, solamente podrá detectarse algunas "intuiciones" de la dignidad humana que, a pesar de sus límites y paradojas, constituirán precedentes necesarios para la fundamentación moderna de este concept